I don’t have a clue how, and why, I managed to commute 1.5 hours to work one way each working day for the last 5+ years. It makes no sense. It is total nonsense. I was exhausted, had no time or energy for anything else. And everything else in my life would be paying the price. Now it is a 15-20 mins drive to my work place each way, manageable and comfortable. I save almost 2+ hours each working day and spend it on more productive things, than traveling to work and back. My back feels better, as less time in a vehicle, and I have time to do so many things, including work out in the eve, without running too much. I have more time at home with the family (husband and the dog for now), and can really have a life.
To all those traveling long distances to work each day – people, it is not worth it at all.
Author Archives: smitajo79
Being alive
There are two types of people in this world. I am sure there are more types, but we will assume there are two types. People with a sense of humor, and people without. It is as clear as black and white here. Either you are funny, or atleast like to be, find, watch funny; or you are not. So here we have the two types. Anyway, to take this forward, and to attempt to make a readable post on this thought, and not mere gibberish, as it appears to be right now, so to take this forward. I have always been the ‘so what man’ kind of person. This seems to be the description of a third kind of person, but wait a moment, it is not. Hark the great brain writes, err types. So this kind of person that I am, the ‘so what man’ is actually a part of the first kind, the funny kind (or atleast seeking funny). Some creature inside of me seems to be more interested in the positives, the possibilities, the laughter and the idiosyncrasies of being alive. So whether it is a minor adjustment of a flat tire, or inability to perform at work, or the lack of cash, or an illness holding you down, my internal positive funny parasite acts up and ensures that there is only humor in the situation. This is not what I wanted to write about. By now, and mainly owing to my ADD, I have lost track of what is it I wanted to write about. But let me change the course of this conversation to seeking out funny. Laughing makes one feel alive, much like s-e-x, or good food, or running on a beach with your hair flying with the wind, and your dog by your side (note: I have neither ran on the beach, nor ran with my hair flying with the wind, nor rain on the beach with my dog, hell my dogs have been far away from beaches because of the locations I have been living in; but running on the beach with my hair flowing with the wind, and dog by my side is an exciting thought nevertheless.)
So while for the rest of the ‘what makes you feel alive’ requirements, you need the moment, the mood, another being, it is the easiest to seek funny, and laugh. The easiest is turning on the TV to catch a sitcom, or plugging in a DVD. Here is a small LOL countdown of good stuff on tv / video (in no specific order). ‘allo ‘allo; Yes Minister; the Family Guy; MASH; Arrested Development; Janey Bhi Do Yarron; 30 Rock; the Office; Harlem Nights; Napoleon Dynamite; Airplane; There’s something about Mary; Groundhog Day; Hot tub time machine; Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay to name a few. So, with a glass of wine (or lemon water, whatever your orientation) in your hand, a nice comfy bed to get into, a significant other to be with you, and a bowl of hot popcorns with flavored yeast to nibble on makes for a perfect day.
And of late I have noticed that I have a strange fascination with my hair flowing with the wind in the car, or on the beach, or on the mountain. I have been adding it to a lot of my conversations, posts, snippets et all. That was again a random thought that was typed as soon as it entered my mind.
Dreaming and Driving
I think the traffic police also should start fining the dreaming and driving variety of people. One such reckless person is me. What can I say. Picture a nice warm sun on a winter’s day, a nice clean car, good music on the radio, and a drive through two patches of some nice residential areas with tree lined streets. And I start dreaming. It starts with a catchy tune on the radio, which plays in my head, then I look into the beautiful bungalows on both sides of the road and imagine the lives of the people who live there, then I see the happy doggies on the side of the entire stretch, who lie happily and contentedly, leaving me to assume that someone or the other takes care of them. And then I have no clue when I reached my destination. This happens every morning on the way to work. It might not be a red convertible, but my hatchback is good as gold; the roads are more like village pathways in patches, but thats okay; I might not have beautiful hair flying with the wind, but I do have beautiful hair. So in all, it does add up. With such a beautiful driving experience to work every morning, it doesnt hurt to get out of bed.
Commercials
I am one of those who like watching commercials. I assume there are more of us? Anyway, there is something about commercials I like. There are some pretty entertaining commercials, the Cadbury commercial with the little boy with the curly hair who blackmails his gran to supply him Dairy Milks; the Center Fresh commercial where the guy is getting a hair –cut is fantastic. Many more of them. Will list them as they come to me. This phrase ‘come to me’ I use almost all the time. Some strange part of me assumes that messages and thoughts come to me. As if the thought is waiting at its home planet, and will soon be relayed and then will ‘come to me’. I also imagine that colors and objects ‘talk to me’. Like the red color of a potential car that is to be bought, will transmit some waves which will be picked up by me and then a decision to buy that car will take place. It does sound delusional when I type these thoughts out. So basically I might be suffering with some form of delusion; or maybe it is a superiority complex where I imagine that thoughts, ideas, buying decision, hell all decisions, ‘come to me’. I think I also might have ADD (attention deficit disorder), so what was I saying?
What is entertaining about these commercials is the fact that one can almost imagine a background and story for each character. Like referring the curly hair little blackmailer boy from the Cadbury’s ad. You can imagine him to be a fast talking, parents nagging, room messing, difficult eater, and entertaining ‘bwoy’. Infact, the best commercials are the ones with these random characters. I don’t think too much of celebrity commercials. Infact I don’t think of them at all. I don’t even want to think of them. They are a waste of time and money. If only the money being spent on the airbrushed celebrities was being used on creative companies thinking up new random original adverts.
What is Public Relations
Considering Public Relations is a practice that corporates and organizations are willing to shell out hundreds of thoushands of dollars for, it is rather disappointing how little this industry is understood. I am new to this work and am just about starting to get a hang of it myself. Here is an effort to create a more wholesome understanding of the field.
Wikepedia defines Public relations as what is used to build rapport with employees, customers, investors, voters, or the general public. Almost any organization that has a stake in how it is portrayed in the public arena employs some level of public relations. There are a number of public relations disciplines falling under the banner of corporate communications, such as analyst relations, media relations, investor relations, internal communications and labor relations. Most of them include the aspect of peer review to get liability. Some other aspects of Public Relations include:
Financial public relations – providing information mainly to business reporters
Consumer/lifestyle public relations – gaining publicity for a particular product or service, rather than using advertising
Crisis public relations – responding to negative accusations or information
Industry relations – providing information to trade bodies
Government relations – engaging government departments to influence policymaking
Then there is the Interactive Public Relations, or interactive PR, which is the use of Internet tools and technologies such as search engines, Web 2.0 social bookmarking, new media relations, blogging and social media marketing. Interactive PR allows companies and organizations to disseminate information without relying solely on mainstream publications and communicate directly with the public, customers and prospects.
Per the 1982 definition of the ‘Public Relations Society of America’ (PRSA), “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.”
This too seems a bit dated and jaded to me now, as a lot has happened since 1982.
I think today PR is about sustained meaningful value-added interactions with your customers, leading to customer loyalty, retention; and evntually converting your customers to your marketers. Atleast this I see to be the end result of PR.
I am still a beginner and this definition will constantly evolve for me, as my understanding of the topic evolves.